Envelop-seal.



s. H. GEER.

ENVELOP SEAL.

APPLIQATION FILED JAN. 6, 1912. 1,050,446. Patented Jan. 14, 1913.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 50., WASHINGTON, D. c.

g iw SETH H. GEER, OF RACINE, WISCONSIN.

ENVELOP-SEAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 14, 1913.

Application filed January 6, 1912. Serial No. 669,758.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SETH H. GEEK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Racine, in the county of Racine and State of Wisconsin, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Envelop-Seals, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to fasteners or seals, particularly for sealingenvelops against opening by unauthorized persons.

The invention consists, essentially, of two opposing members one ofwhich is adapted to penetrate the back of the envelop to cooperate withthe other member disposed within the envelop, and lock the memberstogether in a manner to prevent their surreptitious separation withoutmutilating the envelop, any tampering with which wlll, in consequence,be readily apparent.

l/Vith the above and other objects in view the present inventionconsists in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter moreparticularly described, pointed out in the appended claims, andillustrated in the accompanying drawings, it being understood thatchanges may be made in the form, proportion, size and minor detailswithout departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantagesof the invention.

In the drawings: Figure l is a plan view of the inner member of thefastener. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same indicating in dotted linesthe positions of the spring members of the fastener when engaged by thecompanion member of the fastener. Fig. 3 is a plan View of the outer orcompanion member of the fastener. Fig. 4 is an edge view of the latter.Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view through the has tener inassembled position, the dotted lines indicating the position of theouter locking member in the act of assembling the parts. Fig. 6 is arear view of an envelop showing the invention in plan applied thereto.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings, thereference character 1 indicates the body portion of the iimer platemember of the improved fastener with its ends bent back upon itself inspaced relation to the body portion, as indicated at a. The extremitiesof the bent portions a are bent back upon themselves to form seats inwhich are secured the shanks 10 of the spring members 7), each of whichlatter has an arm 11 which extends upon an incline adjacent the outerface of the bent portions 11, and upwardly through openings 6 in theportions a, and terminate in hooks 4 disposed normally at the slots 3 inthe body portion 1 of the inner plate member. The arms 11 diverge withrelation to each other as clearly shown in Fig. l.

The character 2 indicates the outer plate member of the improvedfastener, and is preferably in the form of a normally bowed resilientplate member provided adjacent its ends with slots 5.

In the use of the improved fastener herein described for the purpose ofsealing envelops, the inner plate member is disposed within the envelopadjacent the inner 0f the flaps where the latter fold over one another.The plate member 2 then has one end passed through the back of theenvelop c with its opposite end passed through the closure flap d. Thebowed member 2 is then flattened out with the result that its ends enterthe slots 3 of the inner plate member 1 and press against the hooks l,which causes the spring members Z) to move slightly until the openingsor slots 5 of the bowed member 2 reach the hooks 4:, when the latterwill snap into the slots 5 of the bowed member 2 and seal the envelopagainst surreptitious opening, and with the bowed locking member 2maintained in a flat condition, as illustrated particularly in Fig. 5.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I provide a simple, inexpensive,durable and eflicient fastener for envelops or for other purposes, andthat when used in 0011- nection with envelops that the same cannot beopened without breaking the seal, or without indicating that the envelophas been opened by an unauthorized person.

Having thus described my invention, what is claimed is 1. A. fastener ofthe character described comprising a plate having its ends bent back onitself with its bent ends in spaced relation to the body portion of theplate, the body portion of the plate having spaced slots and theextremities of said bent portions being bent backwardly to form seats,spring members having shanks and arms, the shanks being fitted in saidseats and the arms diverging with relation to each other, said bent endshaving openings through which the extremities of said arms project withthe extremities terminating in hooks disposed normally within saidslots, and a normally bowed resilient plate whose ends are adapted topass through the slots of the first mentioned plate member and fitbetween the l;)od v' of the latter and its bent portions, the bowed platehaving slots into which the hooks of said spring members are adapted tospring to loclz said plates together.

A fastener of the character described comprising a plate having its endsbent back on itself with its bent ends in spaced relation to the bodyportion of the plate the body portion of the plate having spaced slots,spring members seated between the owest;

walls of said bent plate and having hooked ends normally projecting intothe slots of the plate, and a normally bowed member whose ends areadapted to pass through the slots in the plate and provided with slotsat its ends adapted to receive the hooks of the spring men'ibers, tolock the 111Q1'l'lbGl'S together and to maintain the bowed member inavtlatcondition.

In testimony whereof I atl'lx my signature 25 Copies of this patent mayobtained mm cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,Washington, 3.

